How are new members of AΩA chosen?

The Constitution of AΩA gives many degrees of freedom to each chapter for the process of election of student members within certain firm guidelines. These can be summarized as follows:

  1. At approximately 16 months before a given class will graduate from medical school, the Councilor must arrange with the dean’s office, with the students’ permission, to receive in confidence a list of the top quartile as measured by academic performance.
  2. From this top quartile of students, each chapter may elect to AΩA membership up to one-sixth of the projected number of students that will graduate. The Councilor then invites members of AΩA in the faculty who know students and their performance in the classroom and in clerkships to meet in confidence to select students for membership. The chapter may elect up to half of that one-sixth of students in the spring of the third year, and the remainder at any time from the fall of the fourth year until graduation. There is wide variability in the process among chapters. Some elect no junior students, and several elect all student members in the spring of their senior year just prior to graduation.
  3. Those students chosen from the top quartile for election are picked not only for their high academic standing, but as well for leadership among their peers, professionalism and a firm sense of ethics, promise of future success in medicine, and a commitment to service in the school and community. By adherence to these criteria it has happened that one or more of the highest ranked students by grade point average have not been elected to the society.
  4. Each chapter may elect each year up to three residents/fellows to membership and one or two faculty members. These individuals are expected to be selected by a caucus of student members of the society at some time before the induction ceremony during the senior year. With input from faculty members and the office of the dean, one or two alumni/alumnae may be elected each year as well.

Honorary Membership

Individuals nominated by any member of any AΩA chapter for honorary membership have not graduated from a medical school that had an active chapter at that time, and are not serving on the faculty of a medical school that has an active chapter. The Board makes the final selection of honorary members at its annual meeting. Nominees are those who have made substantial contributions to their field of medicine and have received widespread recognition for these accomplishments. A list of honorary members selected in past years is as follows:

René Amalberti, MD, PhD (2006)
David Baltimore, PhD (1987)
Étienne-Émile Baulieu (2006)
Richard I. S. Bayliss, KCVO, MD, FRCP (1998)
Solomon R. Benatar, MD (2002)
Paul Berg, PhD (1992)
Giuseppe Bianchi, MD (2005)
Carol M. Black MBChB, MD, FRCP, CBE (2003)
Colin Blakemore, PhD, ScD, DSc (1996)
Karl Georg Blume, MD (2001)
Walter Bodmer, PhD, FRS (1988)
Christopher Charles Booth, MD (2001)
Sydney Brenner, MSc, MB, BCh, DPhil (1993)
Peter Michael Brooks, MD (2004)
John Brotherston, MBChB, MD (1983), deceased
Aldo R. Castaneda, MD, PhD (2002)
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, MD (1996)
Michel Chrétien, MD, PhD (2004)
Luther Christman, PhD (1981)
Suzanne Cory, PhD, FAA, FRS (1998)
John Vivian Dacie, MD, MRCP, FRCP, FRS (2000)
Kay E. Davies, D.Phil., FRCPath, CBE (1998)
Karen Davis, PhD (2001)
Richard Doll, MD, FRS (1985)
Daniel J. Du Plessis, BChB, ChM (1986)
Renato Dulbecco, MD (1993)
Archibald S. Duncan, MBChB (1982), deceased
James Burrows Edwards, DMD (2003)
Peter J. Ell, MD, PhD (2003)
John Ellis, MBE, MD, FRCP (1976), deceased
H. Barrie Fairley, MB, BS (2006)
Joseph Fletcher, STB (1981), deceased
Loretta C. Ford, BS, MS, EdD (2000)
Renée C. Fox, PhD (2004)
Richard S. Fraser, MD (2006)
Victor R. Fuchs, PhD (2006)
Steffen Gay, MD (2002)
Eli Ginzberg, PhD (1989)
Clicerio González Villalpando, MD (2002)
Paul Greengard, PhD (2002)
Loïc Guillevin, MD (2006)
Harold P. Himsworth, MD, FRS (1979), deceased
Deirdre Joan Hine, MD (2002)
Shigeaki Hinohara, MD, PhD (2003)
Raymond (Bill) Hoffenberg, MD, PhD (2001)
Barry Trevor Jackson, MS (2004)
Daniel E. Koshland, PhD (1988)
Joshua Lederberg, PhD (1982)
Claude J.M. Lenfant, MD (1997)
Lars Lidgren, MD, PhD, FRCS (Hon) (2005)
John Lister, MBChB (1981)
Ruth Watson Lubic, PhD
Salvador E. Luria, MD (1985), deceased
Margaret E. Mahoney, LL.D. (1984)
Attilio Maseri, MD (2000)
Donald Metcalf, MD, FRCPA, FRACP, FRS (1998)
Fernando Ortiz Monasterio, MD (2002)
Owen St. Clair Morgan, MA, MD (2005)
Joseph E. Murray, MD (1991)
Gustav J.V. Nossal, M.B., PhD, FRS (1986)
James Quigg Newton, Jr., BA, JD (2000)
Paul Maxime Nurse, BSc, PhD, FRS (2000)
Michael O’Donnell, MB, BChir (1995)
James Orbinski, MD (2003)
George Palade, MD (1993)
David Keith Peters, MB, BCh (2001)
Haralampie Momir Polenakovic, MD, DSc (2003)
Frank Press, PhD (1984)
Thomas S. Reeve, MB, BS (1987)
Hans Gosta Ringertz, MD (2002)
Heonir de Jesus Pereira da Rocha, MD (2003)
Martin Roth, MD, FRCP, FRS, KBE (1998)
Cicely Saunders, O.M., MD, DBE (2000)
Benno C. Schmidt, LLB (1978)
Frederick Seitz, PhD (1980)
Sheila Sherlock, MBChB, MD, DBE (1990)
Joseph K. Shija MBChB (EA), FRCS (ED) (2006)
Eric M. Shooter, ScD
Maxine F. Singer, PhD (1989)
Rosemary A. Stevens, PhD (1989)
Roberto Tapia-Conyer, MD, MPH, MSc, DrSc (2005)
Geoffrey Ian Taylor, MB, BS (2004)
John Terblanche, MBChB, ChM (1995)
Leslie Turnberg, MD (2002)
Margaret Turner Warwick, MD, PhD (1987)
John Robert Vane, DPhil, DSc (1989)
Faith Wallis, MA, PhD (2003)
David Alan Warrell, DSc (2001)
James Dewey Watson, PhD (1994)
David John Weatherall, MBChB, MD, FRS (1988)
John B. West, MD, PhD, DSc (2006
Torsten N. Wiesel, MD (1992)
John Z. Young, M.A., FRS, FBA (1978)
Alejandro Zaffaroni, PhD (1995)